Blame Fay
by Anrheithwyr
Summary: There was an uneasy silence filling up the air as Fay watched the two men step closer. They seemed to be arguing loudly about something-a girl, perhaps-and she could see clenched fists and angry faces; they looked about ready to fight, and Fay wanted nothing but to leave now, before things got too bad.


_**Written for the 'Summer 2013 Wizarding Modly Forum-Wide Competition of Awesomeness' (Surprise Duelling Challenge, Lost Duel Option, House Hufflepuff, Wand made of Willow with a core of Kneazle Whiskers, 10 7/8 long) Using prompts: **__Heat, determined, box, charm, first impression, see, 21st, wall, uneasy silence, fight _

_**Written for the 'If You Dare Challenge' by Slytherin Cat, using prompt # 118, silence. **_

_**Written for the 'Ten times Ten Challenge' by Utlaga, using adjective: sudden. **_

….

There was an uneasy silence filling up the air as Fay watched the two men step closer.

They seemed to be arguing loudly about something-a girl, perhaps-and she could see clenched fists and angry faces; they looked about ready to fight, and Fay wanted nothing but to leave now, before things got too bad.

She wasn't big on fights, and Fay knew, as the only person around, if something were to happen, she'd probably be blamed for it all.

It was the same sort of thing that had been happening to her for ages: things went wrong, blame Fay.

She turned around, walking off as quickly as possible, ignoring the sudden, shouted words behind her as the two men began shoving and pushing, definitely rearing for a fight now.

She slipped off with hunched shoulders and a pinched expression, trying to hold herself together, trying to ignore the screaming behind her as one of the men fell to the ground, the other clutching a knife in his hand.

After all, she didn't know them-she wasn't to blame if something happened, right?

Fay turned the corner, still trying to convince herself that she was doing the right thing by walking away. After all, she wasn't at fault, she wasn't to blame.

"_Don't get wrapped up in other people's lives,_" her mother might have said if she was here, except Fay's mother was living in Sweden now, away from her old family, run off with her weird boyfriend.

And so Fay, who still listened to her mother's voice even when she wasn't around, walked on. She was used to being blamed for things, and she didn't want to be involved in yet another mess like this.

_(She didn't want to talk to any police men, not after what had happened.)_

Fay was a good girl, well-behaved now, at twenty-two. Twenty-two…..it was 2000 already, and Fay didn't feel like she'd done much with her life except abandon her family for the Muggle world.

Just then, as she was turning under a poorly lit street lamp near the town's train station, Fay ran into another person.

A girl, actually, who wasn't much older than Fay herself, though it was hard to judger her exact age considering the tired, stressed look in her eyes.

She was carrying a box in her hands and seemed slightly annoyed, but not at Fay.

Fay apologised profusely, begging for forgiveness while her cheeks flamed pink with the heat of embarrassment, but the girl only shrugged it off, acting like it was no big deal.

As she turned to leave, Fay saw the wand in her pocket and almost screamed with delight. It had been two years since the last time she'd seen a witch or wizard, and now she'd run into one right here, in the middle of a Muggle town.

"You're a witch, aren't you?" she asked excitedly, pointing towards the girl's pocket. "So am I! I don't think we've met, but I'm Fay Dunbar. I graduated from Hogwarts a few years ago, a Gryffindor. It's so nice to see another witch here; this whole town's full of Muggles, and sometimes it gets terribly lonely pretending you're one of them, you know."

She chattered on excitedly, leaning against a dirty brick wall as the girl just stood there, peering past Fay towards the tracks, as if she was waiting for something-a train, no doubt, though Fay wasn't sure why she didn't just Apparate.

"Oh, hey," the girl said, and Fay smiled with what she hoped was charm and not just desperation. She'd been living amongst Muggles for the past few years, but it was obvious this girl was magic, and Fay was curious to see if she could make a new friend in this vague stranger.

The girl, however, didn't seem to be interested in Fay, having already looked past her, searching for the train.

Fay sighed to herself; it was the 21st century, and people were still going to be rude, regardless of the circumstances.

Fay, however, was determined to make a good first impression on this girl, regardless of how rude she was, hoping that she might be able to make a new friend of this stranger, who was still looking around for the non-existent train.

"This station's been closed for years, by the way," Fay explained helpfully to the girl, who only gave her a startled look, scowling sharply. Fay looked away for a moment, not paying any attention to the girl, her mind still a little numb from the two guys earlier. "There haven't been any trains through this place for fifteen years at least, in case you were waiting for one. You could always Apparate, though." Fay didn't notice the girl taking her wand from her pocket, pointing at herself with shaking hands. However, she did see the green light and hear the final words of this stranger, a whispered _"Good bye." _

Fay stared as the girl slumped to the ground, her limp body falling like a ragdoll.

Her head lolled about on bony shoulders and Fay screamed suddenly, a pitchy sound as she watched her eyes go blank.

She stared at the girl, who had once been pretty, but now just looked like an empty piece of nothing, just another piece of garbage near an abandoned train station.

She nearly screamed again, stifling the sound with a covered hand, sobbing loudly.

All she could see was this girl's lifeless face, mixed with the memory of her brother, falling to the ground in a pool of his own blood.

Fay knew it was a ridiculous thought, but it flitted through her mind that maybe this was Fay's fault. She ought to have saved the girl.

_Was her death Fay's fault, as her brother's had been, as everything always seemed to be? _

….

_**Okay, I think I might have to explain just a little bit. See, the reason Fay reacts so strongly to the girl's death is that when (in my headcannon, at least) she was 12, her brother killed herself, and she's never quite gotten over it. And, as a result of his death, her parent's broke up and her mum moved to Sweden two years later with her boyfriend. **_

_**The girl who killed herself? I'm not quite sure…it might have been Marietta Edgecombe, I think-you know, the Ravenclaw who betrayed the D.A. If you've read some of my other stuff, I've mentioned that Marietta has a daughter that she later abandons and eventually does kill herself. **_


End file.
